1. Introduction

1.1. Welcome and introduction President Kazuo Tanie called the meeting to order at 9:15 AM.

1.2. Approval of the current agenda and past minutes The minutes of October 3, 2004 and the agenda were approved.

1.3. Report on the status of the society President Kazuo Tanie gave a brief presentation (powerpoint, pdf) on IEEE and its societies.

2. Constitution and Bylaws

2.1. RAS Secretary Report Secretary Kevin Lynch gave a few brief comments on the meeting of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee the previous day and discussed the origins of the proposed Constitution amendments (originated during Paolo Dario's administration but never acted upon), the Bylaws amendments, and the changes to the Standing Rules. (He explained that the modification of "Vice-President" to "Vice President" would be done by a global search-and-replace in the documents after the other modifications, so that the current proposed changed wording still shows "Vice-President.") The proposed amendments had been emailed to the entire ExCom and AdCom more than thirty days in advance of this meeting, meeting the requirements for a vote of AdCom.

2.1.1. Constitution Amendments The Constitution Amendments emailed to AdCom, along with slight revisions made by the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, are shown in this document. This complete package of amendments was then ratified by a secret ballot vote of 19 in favor, 1 opposed, and no abstentions. The Secretary will shortly communicate the proposed changes to IEEE for final approval.

2.1.2. Bylaws Amendments The Bylaws Amendments emailed to AdCom, along with slight revisions made by the Constitution and Bylaws Committee and slight amendments passed by AdCom during the discussion of the proposed amendments, are shown in this document. This complete package of amendments was then unanimously ratified by a voice vote. The Secretary will shortly communicate the proposed changes to IEEE for final approval.

Dave Orin made a motion that VP elections be changed to occur on or about May 31 of the second year of the President-Elect's term, instead of by the end of the first year. This would give Vice Presidents more time to establish themselves before the next elections, serving longer without being "lame ducks." After some discussion related to the ability of VP-elects to submit initiatives according to IEEE's schedule, Dave withdrew the motion with the understanding that this may be revisited in the future.

2.1.3. Standing Rules Changes The Standing Rules changes emailed to AdCom, along with slight revisions made by the Constitution and Bylaws Committee and amendments passed by AdCom during the discussion of the proposed amendments, are shown in this document. This complete package of amendments was then unanimously ratified by a voice vote.

2.2. Nominations Committee Report Past President Paolo Dario presented this report. It was noted that an upper limit on the number of AdCom candidates is not technically possible according to the Bylaws, since any candidate that obtains 25 member signatures on a petition is automatically placed on the ballot (though this is not an issue in practice).

3. Internal Activities

3.1. Financial Activities

3.1.1. Treasurer Report Treasurer Xiaoping Yun began the presentation of this report.

3.1.2. Vice President for Financial Activities Report VP for Financial Activities Tony Maciejewski continued with the report begun by Xiaoping on the Financial Activities Board. Tony also introduced a number of motions:

Motion: To approve the proposed 2006 publications rates. The motion passed unanimously. Motion: To roll over the TRO Manuscript Central budget. The motion passed unanimously. Motion: To increase the magazine budget, as outlined in the presentation. The motion passed unanimously. Motion: To increase the conference budget, as outlined in the presentation. The motion passed unanimously. Motion: To create a new technology transfer award. The motion passed unanimously. Motion: To approve $5K/year for the Young Professional Lunch. The motion passed unanimously.

In addition, AdCom approved the further development of proposals conditionally approved by the Financial Activities Board. These initiatives must be in the 2006 Society budget submitted to TAB on May 6, 2005. None of these motions commit any money to the initiatives at the moment. The approval is simply to further develop the proposals, which will then be circulated to AdCom and voted on at the next AdCom meeting. The conditionally approved proposals are: $25K (over 2 years) for the IAB to develop a Robotics Technology Roadmap, $20K (over 2 years) for a Standards Initiative by the IAB; $10K for conference software development; and $105K for electronic services. AdCom also approved the following initiatives: $12.25K and $7.25K (2 years) to the IAB for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum; $20K forecast initiative for IEEE EAB tutorials CD; and $10K/yr for 3 years ($30K total) to the TAB to make up to $500 available to each technical committee for their activities (not just for web presence, as indicated in the initial proposal). It was pointed out that the $500 should not go to the volunteer members of the TC for work performed.

3.2. Industrial Activities VP for Industrial Activities Sukhan Lee presented this report on the Industrial Activities Committee. There was some discussion about the possibility of overlap between the newly approved technology transfer award and the innovation award. AdCom agreed that the technology transfer award should be given at the same time as other major awards at future conferences. There was general discussion that care should be taken at future conferences to limit the duration of the banquet awards ceremony. One idea is an awards lunch with many of the awards just listed or announced at the banquet. Such an idea is likely to be adopted at ICRA 2006 according to Nikos Papanikolopoulos (not present at the meeting).

George Bekey, and AdCom by acclamation, thanked Sukhan Lee and the IAB for their excellent work in their first year.

3.3. Technical Activities VP for Technical Activities Roland Siegwart gave this report on the Technical Activities Board. He announced the dissolution of three inactive Technical Committees: discrete event dynamic systems, multisensor fusion and integration, and robot motion and path planning. There was some discussion on the VP for Technical Activities' role in encouraging the continuation or reinvigoration of certain TC's.

3.4. Membership Activities VP for Membership Activities Makoto Kaneko gave this report on the Membership Activities Board. One point of note is that 148 students took advantage of the bundled IEEE membership at ICRA 2005. During the discussion of the IEEE/IFRR School of Robotics Science, Toshio Fukuda suggested that IEEE should provide sole financial support, rather than sharing the costs with IFRR. There was some discussion, with most agreeing that sharing the costs, and the volunteer time, is preferable.

Awards Committee Chair Steve Hsia gave this report on the work of the various awards committees. Roz Snyder pointed out that IEEE must be notified of, and approve, all awards that we give out.

3.5. Publications Activities VP for Publications Activities Bill Hamel gave this report on Publications Activities. Kimon Valavanis was thanked for his 10 years of excellent work as EiC of the Robotics and Automation Magazine. This was followed by reports by the Robotics and Automation Magazine Editor-in-Chief Stefano Stramigioli on the magazine, Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering Editor-in-Chief Peter Luh on TASE, and Transactions on Robotics Editor-in-Chief Alessandro De Luca on TRO.

3.6. Conference Activities VP for Conference Activities T.J. Tarn gave this report on Conference Activities. Toshio Fukuda reported on ICRA 2004, and Alicia Casals reported on the finances of ICRA 2005. She mentioned that the hierarchical review structure worked quite well, with three chairs from each region.

4. New Business

VP for Financial Activity Tony Maciejewski moved that RAS submit a proposal to the IEEE initiatives process (no impact on society budget) focusing on electronic services. This motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

The date for the next AdCom meeting was set as Sunday October 16 2005 in San Francisco, immediately after ISRR October 12-15. An informal meeting may take place at IROS in August, but no official votes will take place there.